NewsMax.com. Monday, Aug. 7, 2000
Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore are boring, says Fidel Castro, a man who regularly stultifies his captive audiences with five- and six-hour-long speeches.
The two opponents in this year’s presidential election are "boring and insipid,'' Castro told some 200,000 Cubans while celebrating the 40th anniversary of his communist revolution.
Castro saved most of his scorn for Bush and warned the GOP candidate against any attempts to repeat the efforts of previous U.S. presidents to use the Central Intelligence Agency to assassinate Cuban leaders.
"I exhort you to not forget that for each one of those revolutionary leaders you decide to eliminate in that way, there will remain in Cuba millions of men capable of occupying their place,'' he said.
The Cuban dictator criticized the GOP platform plank on Cuba, which demands that no trade or travel restrictions should be eased until Castro releases all political prisoners – at the very time when the Clinton administration and some lawmakers are trying to ease sanctions.
The Clinton administration has been easing its stand on some sanctions, and a bill has passed the House that eases 38-year-old restrictions on exporting food and medicine to the country. Those in favor of keeping the embargo in place fear that if Gore wins the presidency, sanctions would be
further eroded.
The platform also calls for "active American support for Cuban dissidents'' and says sanctions will be lifted when Castro also legalizes opposition political parties and commits to democratic elections.
These GOP platform provisions, Castro charged, cater to the "terrorist and annexationist mafia of Miami,'' referring to Florida’s Cuban-American exile community.
He echoed the cry against a U.S. missile defense system first uttered by Russia and China, saying that Bush's support for such a missile defense system could launch a "new, dangerous and extremely costly arms buildup.''
Americans, he said, who are unaware of the possible risks involved will simply think that Bush is "a strong, forward-looking and tough man who the United States needs in the face of all dangers imagined or real,'' he said.
While reserving most of his venom for Bush, Castro nonetheless took a swipe at Gore, saying, "Perhaps never in times so complex and chaotic ... has there been a competition between two candidates more boring and insipid.''
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